Economic Quarterly

Winter 2001

After the Accord: Reminiscences on the Birth of the Modern Fed

William McChesney Martin became Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System at the time of the March 1951 Treasury-Fed Accord and, in effect, created the modern Federal Reserve System. The authors recount some of the early events that shaped the modern Fed. They also relate how Chairman Martin helped to create a viable, free market in government securities whose stability did not require Fed intervention and how he reinvigorated the original federal structure of the Federal Reserve System.